This is a Grade 2 washed coffee from Sidamo, specifically the Shentawane village near the town of Daye. At Bombe washing station, cherry from about 600 smallholder farmers is depulped within hours after harvesting before undergoing tank fermentation for 36-48 hours. After the mucilage has broken down, coffees are carefully washed with fresh water and dried on raised beds under parabolic shade nets for 5-7 days. 

Unlike other countries, in Ethiopia coffees are graded solely based on cup quality and number of defects, not size. Grade 1 and Grade 2 are considered "Specialty" at origin. Grade 2 washed coffees usually offer similar flavor characteristics to their G1 counterparts at a slightly more approachable price.

Country of Origin: Ethiopia

Region: Shentawane, Bombe, Sidamo

Producer Type: Washing Station

Farm Name: Various Small Holders

Wet Mill: Bombe

Processing: Washed

Processing Description: 36-48 hour fermentation, dried on shaded raised beds

Growing Altitude: 1950 - 2150 MASL

Plant Species: Arabica

Varietal: Ethiopia Heirloom

History of Coffee in Ethiopia 

Coffee is ancient in Ethiopia, but coffee farming is not. By the end of the 9th Century coffee was actively being cultivated in Ethiopia as food, but probably not as a beverage. It was the Arab world that developed brewing. Even as coffee became an export for Ethiopia in the late 1800’s, Ethiopian coffee was the result of gathering rather than agricultural practices. A hundred years ago, plantations, mostly in Harar, were still the exception, while “Kaffa” coffee from the southwest was still harvested wild. In 1935, William Ukers wrote: “Wild coffee is also known as Kaffa coffee, from one of the districts where it grows most abundantly in a state of nature. The trees grow in such profusion that the possible supply, at a minimum of labor in gathering, is practically unlimited. It is said that in south-western Abyssinia there are immense forests of it that have never been encroached upon except at the outskirts.” 

Growing Coffee in Ethiopia

As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is home to more species of coffee plants than any place on earth, much of it still growing wild, and much of it still undiscovered. All Ethiopian coffee is Arabica and at least 150 varieties are commercially cultivated. Traditionally, these have simply been labelled as “heirloom varietals”; however, this is changing as the Jimma Agricultural Research Center works to identify species. Although there are a few estates in Ethiopia, 95% of coffee is grown by small land holders in a wide variety of environments, including “coffee forests” where coffee grows wild and is harvested by the local people. All specialty grade Ethiopian Coffee is grown above 4,000 feet and most above 6,000. In the highlands of Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, coffee can grow above 7,000 feet.